First Blood. Writing your debut crime novel.

 

In-person, at our home in Goldsboro Books 

22b Ship Street Brighton. BN1.

Writers on this intensive course will develop their ideas and their writing craft, hand-in-hand with an understanding of the market and industry trends today. Throughout the course, you’ll learn to stress-test your ideas by pitching them to writers and industry professionals.

The Course

Eight evening sessions (Mondays, 18:30–21:30) in person. April 15th – June 3rd 
Two hour-long, one-to-one sessions with course director P. D. Viner. The first will be scheduled before Monday April 15th to build a personal plan, based upon your experience, and where you are in your writing process

Monday evening sessions will include:

• Crime writing and its subgenres—developing an understanding of the marketplace and where you want to position your novel — with GWA founder P. D. Viner.

• How to develop the hook of your novel, giving it a story structure and a plot that thrills and excites — with top thriller writer Simon Toyne.

• Character development and relationship-building, for creating suspense and incredible twists and turns — with bestselling psych thriller writer Araminta Hall.

• Insight into police procedures and how law enforcement works. Ideas and strategies for developing contemporary crime stories with real-world characters and issue-led storylines — with retired Chief Superintendent and best-seller Graham Bartlett.

• Creating multi-level story-worlds with recurring characters and ensemble casts. From TV writing to gangland thrillers and edgy police procedurals — with hybrid author Susan Wilkins.

• Understanding the agent-author relationship. Considering the wider rights possibilities of your novel (TV, Film, Games etc). How to pitch your idea (and get immediate feedback) — with top agent, and founder of the Capital Crime festival, David Headley.

  For all ability levels. Only 10 spaces available.

£399 (£349 early bird if booked by March 15th)

Application form at our website: https://goldsborowritingacademy.co.uk/courses/

For more information email: phil@goldsborowritingacademy.co.uk

CrimeFest Announce 2023 Award Shortlists

 

CrimeFest, one of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, has announced the shortlists for its annual awards.

Now in its 16th year, the awards honour the best crime books released in 2022 in the UK.

The awards feature the hotly-contended Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award which offers a £1,000 cash prize.

This year sees former detective turned advisor, Graham Bartlett, on the debut shortlist. Bartlett is known for advising some of the biggest authors in the crime genre, including Peter James, Mark Billingham, and Elly Griffiths, to help inject reality into their plots involving a crime or police officer. Now, Bartlett has put himself on the line with his debut, Bad for Good.

He's not the only former member of the police on the shortlist. John Sutherland served in a variety of ranks for the Met Police before he retired in 2018, and is shortlisted for his debut, The Siege.

They face strong competition from six other shortlisted authors, including Canada’s vice president and editorial director of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, Nita Prose, with her debut The Maid, which was a No.1 New York Times bestseller, a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and has already picked up the Ned Kelly Award for Best International Crime Fiction.

The eDunnit Award for the best e-book, sees giants of the genre in contention, including Ian Rankin for A Heart Full of Headstones, Sara Gran for The Book of the Most Precious Substance, Michael Connelly with Desert Star and Chris Brookmyre for The Cliff House.

The H.R.F Keating Award for best biographical or critical book on crime fiction sees TV’s Queen of History, Lucy Worsley, take on the Queen of Crime with Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman.

A Private Spy, The Letters of John le Carré 1945-2020, edited by Tim Cornwell, is also shortlisted, as is crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw’s Simenon, The Man, The Books, The Films: A 21st Century Guide on the legendary and influential crime writer.

The Last Laugh Award sees Mick Herron’s Bad Actors on the shortlist. The Jackson Lamb series of dysfunctional British intelligence agents has become a major adaptation for Apple TV, starring Oscar-winner Gary Oldman. Herron’s up against Elly Griffiths with The Locked Room, Antti Tuomainen with The Moose Paradox, and the late Christopher Fowler for Bryant and May’s Peculiar London.

Elly Griffiths also features in the Best Crime Novel for Children (aged 8-12) shortlist with A Girl Called Justice: The Spy at the Window. She’s up against the acclaimed Anthony Horowitz for Where Seagulls Dare: A Diamond Brothers Case and M.G. Leonard’s Spark.

Nominees for the Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (aged 12-16) include Holly Jackson with Five Survive, Finn Longman’s The Butterfly Assassin and Sophie McKenzie’s Truth of Dare.

Adrian Muller, Co-host of CrimeFest, said: “The Specsavers Debut Novel Award has become one of the most coveted, and we’d like to thank Specsavers for their on-going support in celebrating new talent. We are also proud to be one of the few genre awards that recognise and celebrate e-books, humour, children, and Young Adult crime fiction novels. Our inclusive awards reflect the values of our convention, and showcase the incredible diversity and reach of the genre which dominates today’s cultural landscape.”

Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest is one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, and one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors attending over four days.

Featured Guests at the convention this May are Mark Billingham and Elly Griffiths.

Leading British crime fiction reviewers and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults, alongside the members of the School Library Association (SLA), form the CrimeFest judging panels.

CrimeFest was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. It was established in 2008. It follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors and readers alike.

 All category winners will receive a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

The 2023 Shortlists in full

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

In association with headline sponsor, the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award is for debut authors first published in the United Kingdom in 2022. The winning author receives a £1,000 prize.

- Amen Alonge for A Good Day to Die (Quercus)

- Graham Bartlett for Bad for Good (Allison & Busby)

- Nita Prose for The Maid (HarperCollins)

- Oriana Rammuno (translator: Katherine Gregor) for Ashes in the Snow (HarperCollins)

- Joachim B. Schmidt (translator: Jamie Lee Searle) for Kalmann (Bitter Lemon)

- Hayley Scrivenor for Dirt Town (Macmillan)

- John Sutherland for The Siege (Orion Fiction)

- Stacy Willingham for A Flicker in the Dark (HarperCollins)

 

eDUNNIT AWARD

The eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the United Kingdom in 2022.

- Chris Brookmyre for The Cliff House (Abacus)

- Michael Connelly for Desert Star (Orion Fiction)

- M.W. Craven for The Botanist (Constable)

- Sara Gran for The Book of the Most Precious Substance (Faber & Faber)

- Ian Rankin for A Heart Full of Headstones (Orion Fiction)

- Peter Swanson for Nine Lives (Faber & Faber)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the United Kingdom in 2022. The award is named after H.R.F. ‘Harry’ Keating, one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, crime reviewers and writer of books about crime fiction.

- J.C. Bernthal & Mary Anna Evans for The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Academic)

- John le Carré (edited by Tim Cornwell) for A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré 1945-2020 (Viking)

- Martin Edwards for The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators (Collins Crime Club)

- Barry Forshaw for Simenon: The Man, The Books, The Films (Oldcastle Books)

- Sian MacArthur for Gender Roles and Political Contexts in Cold War Spy Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan)

- Lucy Worsley for Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman (Hodder & Stoughton)

 LAST LAUGH AWARD

The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the United Kingdom in 2022.

- Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May's Peculiar London (Doubleday)

- Elly Griffiths for The Locked Room (Quercus)

- Mick Herron for Bad Actors (Baskerville)

- Cara Hunter for Hope to Die (Viking)

- Mike Ripley for Mr Campion's Mosaic (Severn House)

- Antti Tuomainen for The Moose Paradox (Orenda Books)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR CHILDREN

This award is for the best crime novel for children (aged 8-12) first published in the United Kingdom in 2022.

 - Elly Griffiths for A Girl Called Justice: The Spy at the Window (Quercus Children's Books)

- Anthony Horowitz for Where Seagulls Dare: A Diamond Brothers Case
(Walker Books)

- Sharna Jackson for The Good Turn (Puffin)

- M.G. Leonard for Spark (Walker Books)

- Robin Stevens for The Ministry of Unladylike Activity (Puffin)

- Sarah Todd Taylor for Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire! A Recipe for Trouble (Nosy Crow)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS

This award is for the best crime novel for young adults (aged 12-16) first published in the United Kingdom in 2022.

- Holly Jackson for Five Survive (Electric Monkey)

- Patrice Lawrence for Needle (Barrington Stoke)

- Finn Longman for The Butterfly Assassin (Simon & Schuster Children's)

- Sophie McKenzie for Truth or Dare (Simon & Schuster Children's)

- Ruta Sepetys for I Must Betray You (Hodder Children's Books)

- Jonathan Stroud for The Notorious Scarlett and Browne (Walker Books)

CrimeFest runs at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel from 11-14 May, 2023. For details and to book, go to: https://www.crimefest.com/

 

 

Forthcoming Crime Books from Allison & Busby

 January 2023

The Askham Accusation is by Rebecca Tope. Set in the picturesque town of Askham, near Ullswater, the story opens with the funeral of Humphrey Craig, the builder who converted Simmy’s new house in Hartsop. The following day, when Simmy goes back to look at the grave and the flowers on it, she meets two women, Lindsay Wilson, an academic in her late twenties who is writing a thesis on Charles Dickens’ Dombey and Son, and Pauline Parsons, a local matriarch aged 90. Just 24 hours later, Mrs Parsons is found dead on Askham Fell and Simmy is summoned to Penrith police station. She is told that she has been identified as the prime suspect … will DI Moxon be able to help Simmy out of this unscathed?

When Juno Browne returns to the gorgeous town of Ashburton after a brief holiday with her cousin Brian, she’s relieved to find that no one has been murdered in her absence. But it’s not long before Sandy Thomas, the local reporter, is brutally slain. And Olly, Juno’s young friend, has accidentally caught the killing on camera. Property developer Alastair Dunston, with whom the victim had been having an affair, is an obvious suspect. But the police investigation cannot link him to her murder … it seems that Juno’s amateur sleuthing services will be called upon once again. Death Comes to Dartmouth is by Stephanie Austin.

February 2023

Ireland, 1939. The Second World War looms ever closer. Blind war veteran, Frederick Rowlands, seeks refuge in the neutral grounds of Ireland under the orders of Lady Celia Swift, whose husband, Lord Castleford, has been receiving mysterious death threats . When a body is discovered, Castleford finds himself being accused of a murder he did not commit. As Castleford's trial begins, Fred must fight for his friend's innocence and to save his reputation. Will Fred identify the true killer in time, or will it be too late? Murder in Dublin is by Christina Koning.

Blind Eye is by Aline Templeton. DCI Kelso Strang is led to believe that something very odd is going on around the prosperous fishing port of Tarleton. A young doctor is seen throwing herself off a cliff, a local farmer meets a grisly end and accusations of extortion unsettle the local community. Strang finds himself so caught in a spider’s web of criminality that he is entirely unprepared when he is struck by the worst tragedy of his career.

March 2023

When a night-time firebomb attack at a Brighton travellers’ site kills women and children, Chief Superintendent Jo Howe has strong reason to believe the new, dubiously elected, far-right council leader is behind the murders. Against the direct orders of her chief constable, Jo digs deep into the killings secretly briefing the senior investigating officer of her suspicions. As she delves further, Jo uncovers an underworld of human trafficking and euthanasia all leading to a devastating plot which threatens thousands of lives and from which the murderous politician looks sure to walk scot-free. Having narrowly survived a plot to kill her, where another was not so lucky, she realises that only by facing near-certain death once more can she thwart this terrorist outrage. Force of Hate is by Graham Bartlett.

The White Lady is by Jacqueline Winspear.1947. Miss Elinor White, known locally as ‘the White lady’, is living a quiet life in a grace and favour cottage, keeping herself to herself. Unbeknownst to her neighbours, she is the veteran of two world wars, a trained killer and an ex-spy. But this private and seemingly tranquil life conceals past trauma and Elinor finds herself drawn into the predicament of a local man entangled with one of the most dangerous crime families in London. A treacherous path lies ahead, but it may be one that ultimately leads Elinor to a future unshackled from her own painful history.

April 2023

Death at the Terminus is by Edward Marston. York, 1865. A passenger train stands in the station. Jack Follis, the guard, patrols the platform to make sure that everyone is safely aboard. He returns to the brake van to load a box into it. Before the train can depart, Follis is alarmed by a smell of burning. Before he can find out the cause, there is an explosion and the whole van is engulfed in flames. In response to a summons from the North Eastern Railway, Robert Colbeck and Victor Leeming are sent to investigate. Leeming is not convinced that a crime has taken place, but Colbeck disagrees. Although the information they received was scant, he is convinced that it is a murder case. The longer the investigation goes on, the more complex it becomes. Guilt shifts to and fro at a bewildering speed. It takes the combined skills of the detectives to identify and catch the person responsible for causing murder and mayhem.

May 2023

April, 1145. Thorgar the Ploughman is found by the bloodied body of Father Edmund, a village priest in Ripple, and is summarily hanged for being caught in the act, despite his insistence that he is innocent. His sister goes to Worcester to seek justice for her brother, and the lord Sheriff sends Hugh Bradecote, with Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin to discover the truth. They soon find that the ploughman was indeed blameless, but uncover strong motives for the killing and some unpleasant secrets in Ripple. Was it the priest’s own wrongdoing that led to his death, or a whisper of treasure long lost and now re-discovered? Too Good To Hang is by Sarah Hawkswood.

Retired actress Guinevere 'Gwinny' Tuffel is finding life hard after inheriting her late father's run-down house and discovering she's broke. But Gwinny is delighted to be at Hayburn Stead for her best friend Tina's wedding to a handsome Italian business magnate. However, before they get the chance to declare "till death do us part" the husband to be is found dead in the library and Tina is accused of the murder. Convinced of her friend's innocence, Gwinny must uncover the real killer from a pool of larger-than-life suspects while also finding herself suddenly looking after Tina's expensive and demanding saluki dogs.The Dog Sitter Detective is by Antony Johnston.

June 2023

Constable Country is by Catherine Aird. When Mike Wakefield's business partner absconded with all the firm's money, Mike and his wife Stephanie feared bankruptcy. Detective Inspector Sloan is at first tasked with what appears to be a cut-and-dry case of embezzlement, but that is before unsettling events, tyres slashed, bricks through windows, make it clear that someone is gunning for the printing firm. Mike Wakefield was determined to finish a job that had been in hand for a while in time for a launch party at the grand surroundings of Ornum House. All went according to plan until one of Mike's employees was found dead. And he wasn't the only casualty. Can DI Sloan and DC Crosby get to the bottom of the mysterious death?

July 2023

Murder at the Tower of London is by Jim Eldridge. London, 1899. Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton, the museum detectives, are called upon to investigate a bizarre murder at the White Tower, the heart of the Tower of London. The dead body of a Yeoman is found inside a suit of armour belonging to Henry VIII, having been run through with a sword. When details of this suspicious outrage are reported to the Prince of Wales, he fears this may be an expression of Republican unrest and calls upon Wilson and Fenton to investigate further. As their inquiries proceed, Wilson and Fenton learn about the long and bloody history of the Tower of London, unlocking hidden secrets at the heart of the mysterious deaths .

October 2023

March 1918. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy hear about a sinister siege involving three burglars. They rush to the scene and learn that a policeman was shot dead during the burglary. Attempts at talking the men in the house into surrender are met with stony silence. When the door is battered down, Keedy bravely leads the way in. A gunshot is heard. Keedy has been hit. The burglary is only the latest of a series carried out by the men. Marmion has to investigate each one. As he does so, startling revelations emerge. Keedy is slowly recovering in hospital but it is no place of safety. One of the burglars has vowed to kill him. Keedy feels defenceless. Danger of Defeat is by Edward Marston.

November 2023

Murder at Down Street Station is by Jim Eldridge. December 1940. Down Street underground station, in the heart of London's Mayfair, is now a secret retreat for Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his cabinet from the relentless air raids overhead. In this supposedly secure location, the body of a woman is found, stabbed in the heart. The victim, fortune-teller Lady Za Za, did not see this one coming. Chief Inspector Coburg and Sergeant Lampson are called to investigate but whispers of treason and corruption succeed in muddying the waters of the case. As the pressure rises and more victims come to light, Coburg and Lampson are on dangerous ground, with a devious killer on the loose.

An unexpected consequence by Brian Price

I never thought I would write a thriller. I had read crime novels for decades, my childhood reading featuring Leslie Charteris’s Saint and John Creasey’s Inspector West among others. As an adult, I had written three books on chemicals and the environment, but had never considered writing fiction.

I turned to crime when I attended Crimefest in Bristol and found the writers who attended approachable and friendly, whether they were self-published or million-sellers. I wanted to contribute in some way, as a kind of payback for the pleasure crime writers had given me, so I set up a website where I used my scientific knowledge to offer tips to authors on how to avoid simple mistakes with things like knockouts (don’t use chloroform), firearms (silencers don’t work) and poisons (they take time to kill). At my wife’s suggestion, I pitched this concept to publishers and the result was Crime writing: How to write the science, a well-received guide, for writers, readers and students, to many aspects of science and crime.

I have advised a number of writers on a range of scientific topics, from lopping off limbs to poisoning celebrities and disposing of bodies, and I think something must have rubbed off. After writing a few short crime stories, I took the plunge and decided to write a novel. I was kick-started by a competition, run by Crime Fiction Coach, for the best first sentence of a novel. My entry ‘The small, grey-haired woman grimaced as she entered the police station, dragging a tartan shopping trolley containing her husband’s head’ won and, because someone said they couldn’t wait to read the rest, I had no alternative but to write the book.

This was a very new type of writing for me. Science writing is relatively straightforward. You decide on the subject you want to write about, and the facts you wish to convey. You do the research and then present the information in a way that suits your intended readership. You don’t have to make stuff up (unless you’re part of QAnon or wear a tinfoil hat). But, apart from factual things I needed to hang the plot on, like police procedures, everything in my novel had to come from my imagination. I had to write about people I had never met, doing jobs I had never done, in places I invented. 

At the time, I didn’t know any police officers, and I certainly didn’t know any gangsters or drug dealers, so creating realistic characters was difficult. The plot was easier, although I had to keep checking that it was credible but still entertaining, and I was OK with forensics. But I needed something a bit different from other thrillers, and I found this in the form of a novel type of profitable contraband.

So, after many months of toil, I had something I thought others might want to read. I had it critiqued and then submitted synopses to thirty or so agents and publishers. After repeated refusals, some friendly and some even offering suggestions for improvements, I considered self-publishing, although that would have required me to develop a whole new set of particular skills. But, late in 2020, Hobeck Books asked for the full manuscript and, shortly after, offered to publish it. I was thrilled! The result was Fatal Trade, which came out in September last year.

I was delighted with the reception Fatal Trade received. People seemed to like the characters, the pace and the plot, giving the book an average of 4.5 stars on amazon. Hobeck were keen to publish a sequel and Fatal Hate comes out on the 12th of April.

Most of the same characters are involved, and it is set in the same imaginary town. Like Fatal Trade, it is fast-paced, twisty and has some truly odious villains. A third novel, Fatal Dose, is in preparation.

I came to realise, quite early on, that there were two pitfalls I had to avoid when writing fiction. One was information-dumping. I might be fascinated by the biochemistry of a particular poison, but is the average reader? What it is, and how quickly it kills, is probably enough, with a few symptoms thrown in. I didn’t want to make the mistake of, for instance, spending a page and a half describing a particular type of rifle ammunition. 

The other danger zone was my personal attitudes. There are issues in both books about which I feel strongly, but I was careful to avoid preaching or writing an essay on politics. Readers want to be entertained, first and foremost, and I let my characters’ views and behaviours paint the picture. It is up to the reader whether they share or reject these views but, as long as they notice them, and enjoy the books, I’m a happy crime writer.

Fatal Hate by Brian Price (Hobeck Books) Published 12 April 2022

A boring office administrator is found dead outside the chocolate warehouse where he worked. But who would want to kill him and why? Did he see something he shouldn’t have or did one of his right-wing associates turn on him? DC Mel Cotton and her colleagues’ investigation takes them into the murky world of terrorism, smuggling and murder. What is in the mysterious packages moved from the warehouse in the dead of night and why did someone try to burn watching police officers to death? Meanwhile, a determined young woman vows vengeance on the two men responsible for her sister’s death. She will do anything for justice and she soon becomes involved with a member of a group of local notables with depraved tastes and extreme political views. Someone is going to die. As the two worlds converge, Mel Cotton’s courage is tested to the limit. And the presence of a hitman in town means no-one is safe. Is time running out for her?

M.W. Craven has described Fatal Hate as ‘High quality crime writing’, and Graham Bartlett called it ‘A turbocharged, complex and intelligent thriller with a stunning cast, told with the authority and authenticity we have come to expect from Brian Price. I dare you to put it down.’

Readers of Fatal Hate are invited to take part in a competition to spot the “Easter Eggs” – cultural references – in the book. The winner will receive a very special box of chocolates featuring such favourites as Strychnine Surprise, Cyanide Swirl and Belladonna Cream, plus a signed copy of Brian’s next book, Fatal Dose.

Fatal Hate is published as a paperback and ebook by Hobeck Books and is available on Amazon and Waterstones.

You can find more information about Brian Price and his books on his website. You can also find him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @crimewritersci. 

 

Books to Look Forward to From Allison & Busby

January 2022 

Murder at the National Gallery is by Jim Eldridge. London 1899. The Museum Detectives Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton have been contacted by the curator of the National Gallery. He is getting in touch at the request of the artist, Walter Sickert, famously suspected of being Jack the Ripper for many years. The dead body of a young woman, who had been an artist''s model, has been found at the back of the Gallery. She had been eviscerated and Sickert has been arrested on suspicion of her murder.Although he is soon released, when a second similar murder occurs, Sickert is once again implicated. The murders are copycats of the original Ripper murders, but the details of those crimes were publicised so heavily in the newspapers at the time that most people would know them. Sickert insists he is innocent, but who would want to frame the famous artist?   Wilson and Fenton have their work cut out …

Persimmon ‘Simmy’ Brown’s wedding day to Christopher Henderson has arrived on a glorious summer’s day in the pretty Lake District village of Threlkeld. While the day passes off without undue calamity, later when most of the guests have departed, a young man is found nearby, possibly the victim of a vicious attack. The mystery of the attack is complicated by pressure on police resources. Was it an accident or something far more sinister? Speculation is rife as to what precisely happened and a chilling suspicion develops into a theory that might be impossible to prove. The Threlkeld Theory is by Rebecca Tope.

February 2022

A Devon's Night Death is by Stephanie Austin. In the Dartmoor town of Ashburton, reluctant antique shop owner and accidental amateur sleuth, Juno Browne, has cash-flow problems. So, when the mild and gentlemanly bookbinder, Frank Tinkler, rents a room above the shop, he seems like the answer to a prayer. At home, Juno accidentally disturbs intruders and shortly afterwards, one of them falls to his death from a viaduct. Was it accident, suicide or murder? When Juno recognises his accomplice as Frank's nephew, Scott, she decides to investigate.

March 2022

September, 1942. Jo Hardy, an Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pilot, is delivering a Spitfire when she has the unnerving experience of someone shooting at her aircraft. A few days later she hears that another ferry pilot has been killed when her aircraft crashed in the same area of Kent. Although the death has been attributed to 'pilot error', Jo is convinced there is a link between the two incidents. Jo takes her suspicions to Maisie Dobbs and while Maisie wants to find out why someone appears to want to take down much-needed pilots, she finds it is part of a much larger operation involving Eleanor Roosevelt, the American president's First Lady. To protect Eleanor's life - and possibly the safety of everyone in London - Maisie must quickly uncover the connection. A Sunlit Weapon is by Jacqueline Winspear.

April 2022

Murder at Claridge's is by Jim Eldridge. One of the Claridge's kitchen porters is found dead - strangled. He was a recent employee who claimed to be Romanian, but evidence suggests he may have been German. Detective Chief Inspector Coburg has to find out exactly who he was, and what he was doing at Claridge's under a false identity. Once he has established those facts, he might get an insight into why he was killed, and who by. Coburg's job is complicated by the fact that so many of the hotel's residents are exiled European royalty. King George of Greece is registered as 'Mr Brown' and even the Duke of Windsor is staying, though without Wallis Simpson. Clandestine affairs, furtive goings-on and conspiracies against the government: Coburg must tread very lightly indeed .

May 2022

The Daughter is by Liz Webb. I lean in and whisper the question I have never let myself utter in twenty-three years. "Dad, did you murder Mum?" Hannah Davidson has a dementia-stricken father, an estranged TV star brother, and a mother whose death opened up hidden fault lines beneath the ordinary surface of their family life. Hannah is losing her grip on both a cache of shameful secrets and her drinking, and her habit of gorging on almost inedible quince makes it patently clear that her life is a mess. Now the spitting image of Jen Davidson and exactly the same age she was when she died, Hannah is determined to uncover exactly what happened to her mum. But the boundaries between mother and daughter soon become blurred and Hannah discovers that she may not win the dangerous game she's playing.

June 2022

Bad For Good is by Graham Bartlett. How far would you go to avenge your son's murder? The murder of a promising footballer and, crucially, the son of the Brighton's Chief Superintendent, means DS Jo Howe has a complicated and politically sensitive case on her hands. The situation becomes yet more thorny with the addition of devastating blackmail and the threat of vigilante action. In a world coloured by power grabs and corruption, Howe finds that she can trust no one as she tracks a brutal killer and tries to stop Brighton descending into violence.

Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies of poisoning, though his wife Blanche survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for Bradecote and Catchpoll, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably. Could it be the cast-out younger brother or perhaps Orderic the Bailiff, whose wife may have had to endure Godfrey's attentions? Could it even be the wife herself? With Bradecote eager to return to his manor and worried about his wife's impending confinement, and Walkelin trying to get his mother to accept his choice of bride, there are distractions aplenty, though Serjeant Catchpoll will not let them get in the way of solving this case. A Taste for Killing is by Sarah Hawkswood.

The Return of True Detective: Graham Bartlett

Shots Magazine are delighted to see the return of Graham Bartlett, following up his insightful ‘DEATH COMES KNOCKING’, a non-fiction crime work that looks back over his career as a Sussex Police Commander. That work was written in-conjunction with the award-winning [and best-selling] Peter James, as there is a link to the fictional world of Roy Grace.

Peter James is favourite writer of mine, a former Film Producer who’s writing traverses Horror and Speculative Fiction but best known for his police procedurals set in a dangerous Brighton, as well as international excursions that Roy Grace has to undertake in his investigations. It was excellent to hear that this singular creation is being adapted for TV. In fact, 2020 appears an important year for Peter James, as we reported at last year’s Christmas Lunch that the author generously organised – more information about what the year has in store for Peter James’ readership HERE

So as Bartlett’s Babes in the Wood [the follow-up to Death Comes Knocking] has been unleashed, what’s in store?

On 9 October 1986, nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway went out to play on their Brighton estate. They would never return home; their bodies discovered the next day concealed in a local park. This devastating crime rocked the country.

With unique access to the officers charged with catching the killer, former senior detective Graham Bartlett and bestselling author Peter James tell the compelling inside story of the investigation as the net tightens around local man Russell Bishop. The trial that follows is one of the most infamous in the history of Brighton policing – a shock result sees Bishop walk free.

Three years later, Graham is working in Brighton CID when a seven-year-old girl is abducted and left to die. She survives . . . and Bishop’s name comes up as a suspect. Is history repeating itself? Can the police put him away this time, and will he ever be made to answer for his past horrendous crimes? Both gripping police procedural and an insight into the motivations of a truly evil man, Babes in the Wood by Graham Bartlett with Peter James is a fascinating account of what became a thirty-two-year fight for justice.

Read More from Pan Macmillan HERE

This link tells more from the author –

Graham kindly provided Shots Readers, a little more background to his change from Police Officer, to Investigative Consultant and Writer -

When I hung up my epaulettes after thirty years of policing, I loved writing and had many plans but none were to become a best-selling crime writer. That was all Peter James’ fault when he set me the most extensive and challenging piece of homework I’d ever faced.

‘Write a non-fiction with me,’ he said. ‘Linking your career with the Roy Grace stories,’ he said. ‘And you’d damned well better make it worthy of my name,’ he joked.

From the age of eighteen I’d written nothing but witness statements, incident reports and, as the commander of Brighton and Hove police, pleading submissions against the cuts. So, when WH Smith customers’ “greatest crime author of all time,” threw down that particular gauntlet I picked it up with trepidation.

It was the hardest yet most fulfilling journey I have ever embarked on. Rejection after rejection because my voice (what even was that?) was too policey only spurred me on until finally, after three years and more drafts than I can bear to remember, Death Come Knocking – Policing Roy Grace’s Brighton was published. A week at number 7 in the Sunday Times Top Ten earned me the label of “Best Seller” but, more importantly, I caught the bug.

Our second book, Babes in the Wood – published in February 2020 - took even longer to write. It tells the inside policing story to how, after thirty-two years and three trials, child killer Russell Bishop was finally brought to justice.

Having been wrongly acquitted for killing nine-year-olds, Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows, in 1986, Bishop went on to kidnap and to get within a hairs breadth of killing a seven-year-old girl in near identical circumstances three years later. That was the first major incident I investigated and it formed a compelling chapter in Death Comes Knocking. However, two weeks before our final deadline, a court order crashed in to my inbox banning us – and the world’s press – from publishing anything about Bishop as he had been re-arrested for Karen and Nicola’s murder. Despair quickly turned to elation when it hit me that the relaxation of the double jeopardy safeguards – which stopped acquitted suspects being re-prosecuted – and the advance of DNA science meant that finally the little girls’ families had a chance of justice.

Peter and I decided to write the whole story, from the girls going missing to what we then hoped – and were proved right – would be guilty verdicts. We would tell it using first-hand accounts from the officers who answered Karen’s mum’s desperate 999 call, to the officer who found the bodies and every senior detective – and many junior – who had anything to do with the cases. – including me. There was a lot of hanging around for the re-trial but eventually we interviewed those key cops and finished the book, busting five myths about the case in the writing.

Despite being a career-detective, I have always tried to find the good in people. Most killers, rapists and robbers I have met have at least a flicker of humanity if you dig deep enough. The vast majority I could describe as being “people who have done evil things,” rather than “evil people.”

Bishop was the exception. He is wicked to the core.

His crimes, depraved, brutal and unforgiveable, speak for themselves but we saw in his interviews and in court a living, breathing psychopath. How else do your describe someone who tries to gas-light wizened and wily interviewers into believing a story that flip-flops around the evidence on a minute by minute basis that, were the case not so serious, it would be laughable? Who else would brazenly defend sending sexually explicit letters to a thirteen-year-old girl – and he knew that – by saying he thought she was fifteen? Only someone like Bishop could be so dismissive of a grieving father’s decades-long anguish that he could accuse him of watching a video of her being raped then later sexually assaulting and murdering both her and her friend. If Bishop were ever released, children would be in mortal danger.

As well as writing I advise Peter James, and now many others, on achieving pinpoint accuracy in their police procedure and characters. Plenty of former cops offer themselves up to do this but not many are published authors. Few understand the narrative process and can meld a story with authentic procedure. Combining my years as a detective, firearms commander and city police chief with my new career as an author, I put the plot first and work the authenticity into that. I share the secrets of how crimes are actually investigated and solved, from the corpse to the courtroom and help shape the characters who do that.

That makes me a real pain to watch TV drama with or to read ill-researched crime fiction. It’s unfair on other authors that I use Peter James and Mark Billingham as my benchmarks of what can be achieved, but many put the hard yards in and produce great – authentic – novels. Elly Griffiths, Dorothy Koomson, E V Seymour and Adam Croft are just a few of those whose books I fly – wince-free - through. Sometimes though, I like to avoid any chance of critiquing when I should be enjoying and my two favourite authors who write in a world I know nothing about are Gregg Hurwitz (Orphan X series) and Deon Meyer (Benny Griessell series). I doubt Gregg’s world of deniable assassins hung out to dry by a corrupt US government exists (Naïve? Moi?). Likewise, Deon’s South Africa Police Service is nothing like the provincial UK force I am familiar with so I can just read and enjoy – as the authors intended.

I’m moving away from non-fiction for now and am editing my first novel. Supported wonderfully by my agent Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedman and the lord and master Peter James, I have written a story I’m quietly proud of which shows the horror of what happens when policing is cut so much that state-sponsored vigilantism takes over. Watch this space for more news on that.

So, we’d recommend grabbing a copy, especially as this weird COVID-19 is in the air, and many turning to books while we isolate ourselves.

This link tells more HERE

Babes in the Wood – by Graham Bartlett with Peter James is published by Pan and available from Amazon, WH Smiths, Waterstones, Asda and other good bookshops.